The latest Megane and Fluence models may not be as safe as the ones they replace - and even our crash test body isn't sure how they perform.

Renault crash safety confusion

French car-maker Renault has denied that it has taken a backward step on safety, despite introducing vehicles that no longer carry five-star crash ratings from Australia's independent crash rating organisation.

Neither the Renault Megane small car nor the Fluence mid-sizer carries the typical Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) crash rating because they haven't been tested by the organisation or its European counterpart, Euro NCAP.

And the carmaker, which used to trumpet the fact that its entire range had achieved five stars in crash tests, now makes no reference to the ratings.

The current Megane and Fluence are both believed to be four-star performers in independent crash tests, but escape the usual safety net because the cars are produced outside Europe and not crash-tested in Australia.

The Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) can't test every new model in the local market, so it relies on results from the European chapter of NCAP.

But the Australian-spec Megane and Fluence are respectively made in Turkey and South Korea and not tested by Euro NCAP.

A former Renault Australia employee told Drive the company had discussed the introduction of the new Megane and the fact that it wouldn't get an ANCAP five-star rating if it were tested locally.

Renault Australia's spokeswoman, Emily Ambrosy, says the brand "cannot speculate on what score they would be given" and that the company had "absolutely not" moved away from safety as a priority.

"We are confident in the level of active and passive safety offered in our Australian new-vehicle range," she said.

"Some Renault models currently on sale in the Australian market have not been tested by Euro NCAP as they are not on sale in Europe."

Renault has pulled references to crash scores from its Australian website.

The site had previously boasted: "A five-star rating is the ultimate. And we've got twelve of them, including five of the models available in Australia." But those references were removed this year.

Ms Ambrosy said that the Euro NCAP advertising policy prevented brands from publicising the scores of cars tested prior to 2012.

But Renault's attitude to crash-test results is still a huge backflip for the French brand, whose Australian arm broke a gentleman's agreement not to publish ANCAP crash ratings a decade ago.

Back in 2002, the company gave ANCAP a huge shot in the arm by becoming the first local brand to publish crash ratings derived from European tests.

At the time the industry was dismissive of ANCAP and Euro NCAP, claiming they didn't evaluate cars in real-world conditions and were overly simplistic in testing criteria.

But Renault broke ranks by publishing the crash results for its European four-cylinder Laguna, which had significant differences to the six-cylinder car sold here.

The Renault website still hosts a brochure for the discontinued Laguna reminding buyers that "Laguna II was the first vehicle to secure a five-star rating", and European crash scores are prominently placed on information packs still online for the discontinued Scenic and the previous-shape Megane.

But Renault's local arm distanced itself from foreign crash tests after the Fluence sedan received four-star ratings in Europe and Latin America.

The move highlights a loophole in ANCAP's local testing procedure.

Lauchlan McIntosh, Chair of ANCAP, said his organisation did not usually crash-test low-volume models, though it has done so from time to time.

"We have limited resources, [so] we test the most commonly sold cars," Mr McIntosh said.

"Occasionally we will take another car on sale and test it."

ANCAP crash-tested the Nissan Leaf electric car, which is likely to be bought by fewer than 100 people this year.

The Australian crash body conducts its own testing for some cars and adopts European crash scores for others.

But some cars fall through the gap and are tested by neither body, leaving buyers with little information about how their car could fare in a crash.

The Fluence received a four-star crash result in South American crash testing this year and an electric version of the same car also received a four-star result in Europe.

But Renault sought to distinguish the locally-sold Fluence from similar versions used overseas.

"The Latin American Fluence is not the same as the Fluence we source for Australia," Ms Ambrosy said.

"As such, we cannot speculate on this crash-test result for the Australian market."

Australia's Fluence has a lot in common with models built in Argentina – they share the same bodies, engines and many other major components.

Renault's decision not to acknowledge four-star results for the Fluence is intriguing because the brand's local arm has promoted the results of European crash scores for the past 10 years.

The company also argued that the European-built Megane and the Turkish-built version offered the same level of safety engineering.